Epicor EMEA Customer Awards

08-06-2015

Insights EMEA 2015 was the inaugural year for the UK customer awards, while the Middle East saw customers recognised for the second year running. Charles Clayton, Customer Advocacy Director, and Stuart Hall, Sales Director UK, presented the awards in the UK, with Vinod Raghothamarao, Customer Engagement Manager - Professional Services MENA, supporting Charles in Dubai.

Said Hall, “Manufacturing is far more successful than the media would have you believe, and our customers make amazing products every day. We are delighted to be able to recognise a string of very successful businesses across EMEA that uses technology to drive business growth.”

The very worthy winners are as follows:

UK

Investment in Apprentices: Xtrac. Xtrac has 15 apprentices in an area of the business totalling 140 people. The company has invested in STEM ambassadors in schools and also employs a devoted Apprentice Co-Ordinator.

Business Transformation: Hayward Tyler. A culture of continuous improvement and workforce engagement has led to a raft of awards, orders up from £18m to £31m, average delivery days late down from 173 to 3 and a share value up 500%.

International Expansion/Exports: Xtrac. The company has a Queen’s Award for export and consistently derives 70% of its revenues from exports. The business already has agents on the ground in China and has its sights set on further expansion.

Middle East

Business Transformation: Heinz Africa & Middle East. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Heinz is the most global of all US-based food companies. Heinz Africa Middle East runs Epicor ERP as its business transformation platform. Heinz started with a single country implementation at the HQ in Dubai and then embarked on a program of rapid expansion from the Gulf to Nigeria, Turkey, and Pakistan together with numerous continuous improvement projects. The transformation has resulted in significant operating efficiencies as well as improved forecasting abilities, and it has achieved a greater degree of accuracy in sales operations alongside productivity enhancements across the region.

Best Practice Adoption: Saudi Mechanical Industries. Headquartered in Riyadh, SMI is a leading manufacturer specializing in fluid flow and control equipment, engineered components, steel & bronze bars. Prior to the implementation, SMI initiated a process re-engineering exercise that facilitated the adoption of Epicor ERP 10 seamlessly and achieved a high alignment to recommended best practices. As the project progressed, the thorough preparations manifested itself in minimal gaps, almost non-existent customizations, significant cost savings and an on-schedule production readiness.

Organizational Change Management (OCM) & Governance: Al-Futtaim Auto & Machinery. Al-Futtaim Auto and Machinery Company (FAMCO) is a member of the Al-Futtaim Group, one of the largest privately owned business houses in the region. FAMCO offers a wide variety of products and services to a diverse range of industries and commercial businesses covering the transportation, construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, warehousing and marine sectors. The recognition is for their exceptionally well evolved internal OCM project, with a dedicated OCM charter and a core member team that was set up by FAMCO in support of their iScala projects.

Rapid Implementation: JAS Hospitality. Jas Hospitality was founded to bring world-class restaurant concepts to the Middle East as well as to a global audience. Their vision is to create a portfolio of unique, eclectic, home grown food & beverage concepts that can be exported globally. The transition to a production system was achieved in a span of a month and a half from the start of the project, including implementing the financials, asset management, materials management, payroll and interfaces to retail outlets. A dedicated team from JAS was instrumental to the success, alongside their commitment to business objectives and the project schedule.

Last Mile Achieved: Aptec (An Ingram Micro Company). Ingram Micro is a worldwide leader in technology distribution offering a wide range of solutions and products from world leading vendors. Operating earlier as Aptec in the Middle East, Ingram Micro implemented iScala ERP as their platform for the Middle East operations. Their iScala ERP program now extends to around 400 users spread over eight countries.

Epicor ERP 10 - Early Adopter: Oman Fiber Optic. Founded in 1996, Oman Fiber Optic (OFO) started cable production in early 1999. Located in Muscat, Oman, OFO uses state of the art technology to draw fiber and manufacture world class fiber cable products. One of the first in the region to embrace and adopt Epicor ERP 10, OFO quickly saw the potential of the new solution and has transitioned successfully across its multiple business divisions. Epicor ERP runs the complex optic cable manufacturing facility and they achieved production readiness in nine months from the start of the implementation.